Outside Green

Alice rarely showed emotion. Tormentors called her Stoneface. She hid the pain inside. Her life passed by one day after another, always the same. She talked to her plants. Alice hated change, wore green.

Dreaming, Alice held her breath. Her body became light. She floated from bed like a balloon. A current carried her higher, above the treetops. She grew afraid. Alice did not want to leave home, what she knew. I’ve grown too high, I cannot breathe.